"The grace of saving my sister is something I shall never forget as long as I live."
Outside the private sickroom, looking through the window at Rin sleeping soundly inside, Sakura expressed her gratitude to Fu Li.
On her body, the communicator exclusive to The Fire Moth was gone, and she had changed into a different set of combat fatigues.
Three days ago, Sakura announced her separation from the organization, which made The Fire Moth furious.
However, faced with the situation where half of the Flame-Chasers—Elysia, Eden, Mobius, Kalpas, Vill-V, Griseo, Kosma, and Aponia—followed suit or rebelled, The Fire Moth capitulated.
With even Griseo taking a side, it was a complete landslide.
But when it came to who was most grateful, it had to be Sakura. If not for him, Rin would likely have been dead without a doubt.
After all, even if she had fled with Rin, Herrschers were targets that had to be eliminated; the pursuit by The Fire Moth would have been inevitable.
After a moment of silence, Sakura suddenly spoke with great seriousness.
"Li, no matter what you think, this blade and my life must be entrusted to you. You have earned this."
"No, no." Fu Li hurriedly shook his head. "Entrust me with what? Is that really necessary? We are comrades; helping out is only normal."
"I know, but..." Sakura lowered her head, her tone low. "If I don't do this, my conscience simply won't settle."
"Then I don't want your loyalty. I helped Rin purely out of kindness."
"Even so, this is the agreed reward. Li, this is the custom of my hometown, please do not refuse."
"This..." Looking at the stubborn Sakura, Fu Li felt a deep sense of helplessness.
What kind of damn custom is this? Didn't I just save her mom—err, sister...
"Sigh... alright then. But Sakura, I won't force you to do anything. If you want, just go to Mobius's laboratory."
"That is where I work. If you want to, just stay there and protect Mobius and Rin."
"Understood, Li." Sakura nodded without hesitation.
[After the 12th Herrscher event concluded, Rin was confirmed to be safe, but she was still viewed with suspicion and fear by the survivors.]
[They viewed her as a vessel that housed a demon, avoiding her like the plague. Someone even tried to dump food on her, wanting to kill her.]
[No matter where she went, all she received were looks of fear and disgust. There was even one time when someone maliciously tried to knock a tray of rice onto her.]
[Fortunately, you were right by her side and proceeded to beat that person up.]
[After that, Rin was arranged to enter Mobius's laboratory, which bore various infamous nicknames such as the 'Devil's Lair', 'Death Lab', and 'Snake's Nest'.]
[In this place that outsiders viewed as terrifying, Rin was handed over to Griseo, this new friend.]
[Just as she said, in here, whether it was Big Sister Eden or Big Sister Mobius, everyone treated her very well. She liked it here very much.]
[However, good times don't last long. No matter how hard you tried to hide it, Fu Li's injury was keenly sensed by Mobius, and he was sent to a sickroom.]
"So, you went and got yourself hurt? Hmm?"
Inside Laboratory No. 1, Mobius looked at Fu Li's unnaturally pale arm. She couldn't help but take a deep breath to stabilize her blood pressure.
On his arm, terrifying cracks were already densely spread, emanating the residual power left by the Herrscher.
Is it an [Injury]? Or perhaps [Poison] would be more accurate.
Again and again, why must he always take his life and go on adventures? Is his life really that cheap?!
Mobius's snake eyes constricted. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't stand seeing Fu Li get hurt, as if he were treating himself like he was already dead.
But how was that possible? Fu Li was clearly standing right there, alive and well.
Just as Mobius was about to question him, Klein walked in holding a test report.
"Doctor, the test results are out. Based on them, Li's ability can indeed slowly suppress the erosion and gradually heal it."
"But regarding the healing time, it will take roughly one week."
"One week? That's acceptable." Fu Li waved his hand. "Rest assured, Doctor, my body is very tough. Besides, this energy is free and bears no malice toward me, so why not take this opportunity to experiment?"
Hearing his words, Mobius's expression became complicated.
To be honest, she had thought about using her own body to experience the power of a Herrscher.
In her eyes, the most excellent test subject was naturally the kind that could accept experiments at any time, would never rebel, and was completely fearless.
In the past, that person was only herself. It wasn't until Fu Li forcibly broke into her life that she found a second 'most excellent test subject'.
But for some reason, the anger in her heart only grew.
"Hmph... fine, you have a good rest. We'll talk about the experiment later."
At this point, she had to observe him carefully.
Mobius shook her head. She felt that this experiment wouldn't bring her the usual satisfaction. On the contrary, she would likely only get cold data.
And data that she didn't like.
After Mobius left, Fu Li's face instantly turned pale, and black lines immediately crawled up his neck.
As a researcher and a combatant, he knew his current condition very well. An injury like this would take at least half a year to recover.
The reason Klein concluded it would take one week was that he had forcibly suppressed the injury.
"Damn... earlier I was only thinking about how to extract the Core, so the protective measures weren't up to par..."
Fu Li tremblingly put on gloves. In a moment, Eden would be coming over; he didn't want her to worry.
Truly worthy of being the completed Herrscher of Corruption...
Next time, I absolutely must do better with protection.
[Under your active request, Mobius conducted an analysis of your injury and understood the power of the Herrscher of Corruption.]
[However, because the Herrscher of Corruption's ability was too terrifying, the work to explore its essence was temporarily postponed.]
[One week later, you looked better on the surface.]
[After you 'healed', you chose to continue accompanying Eden to complete her wishlist.]
[You skipped class together, fought Honkai beasts together, went diving together, and danced together under the moonlight.]
[In the eyes of outsiders, you were like a pair of celestial immortals, a perfect match.]
[But in your eyes, you were just the best of confidants.]
[Eden, too, never voiced the feelings in her heart.]
[Until one day, the stars in the bottle bottomed out. Eden took out the final three stars and placed them inside.]
[You wanted to help her finish them, but Eden put the bottle away, smiling as she told you that it wasn't time to fulfill these wishes yet.]
[She wanted to wait until the crisis of the Herrschers completely passed. When that time came, you would open it together and complete the final three wishes.]
["Wait until that time, you must accompany me to finish them." —Eden said this.]
["If you break the promise, the one who breaks it has to swallow a thousand needles."]
[Under the moonlight, two veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles established this childish bet.]
[Until, Elysia suddenly announced that she herself was the 13th Herrscher.]